What Is Love?
by Ace's Shadow Girl
Summary: Something fatal happens and Nami is confronted with her feelings. But her captain doesn't seem to understand... Rated T for swearing. One-shot. Caution: Contents may be fluffy.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece and yeah, you knew that already.

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¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º©** What Is Love? **©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨**  
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Everybody on the ship awoke all of a sudden, snapping out of their well-deserved sleep and looking alarmed. Was this Zoro on night watch crying so loud? Had he spotted some Marine warships? Or perhaps other pirates? It would be strange for two reasons. First, Zoro did definitely not cry like that, even if ten Marine ships surrounded them with cannons down and in place. And second, Zoro was not that great as any kind of watch, it would be kind of a wonder if he spotted something at the exact point of time that he did _not_ sleep.

Nami and Robin were the first to get out of their rooms as they had not slept the whole night, Robin because of her books and Nami because of her mapmaking that had taken her longer than she first wanted. However, the two women were the only spectators of one of the weirdest scenarios they had ever seen. Their captain stood on the railing, wavering as if he was still sleeping, and then, with an even more horrifying cry, he_ jumped_.

Nami and Robin stood there, frozen to the spot, then they looked at each other with wide eyes. "Was that just …?" Nami asked in utter confusion, but as her crewmate just nodded, she only glanced to the men's quarters where not a soul was to be seen, then to her Devil Fruit using friend – and then she ran. "Luffy!" she yelled as she arrived at the place they had seen their captain disappearing. The water was churning a bit, but no one was to be seen.

"Shit!" she yelled, throwing her shoes away and jumping behind him, head first, without thinking.

Icy cold water welcomed her, and she struggled to overcome the stiff feeling of her limbs as she started to dive deeper. She could not see him, all she saw was the bluish underwater world surrounding her, but she knew Devil Fruit users sank like freaking stones when in seawater.

_Damn Luffy, just what the hell did he think he was doing?_ she thought as she dove further on, deeper and deeper, as fast as she could. She was no Zoro or Sanji and definitely not used to this kind of thing. Her lungs ached for oxygen but she ignored it, only thinking about saving her captain before it was too late. She had already wasted too much time when she had looked around, she should have run immediately, and if it was too late now …

_No, it isn't. Luffy is strong. He can take it._

Nevertheless she had to fight that strange feeling while diving down, the feeling that told her she was too late, too slow, way too slow. Zoro would have reached him by now, damn him. Why couldn't he just stay awake when on night watch? He could sleep in his bed if he wanted, but not on night watch …

Then she spotted a human-like shape a bit further down. This alone gave her the strength to mobilise all her muscles and hidden energies. The sun did not reach until here, so she could only see his black hair, the other colours were distorted by the weird light down here. But it was him, his eyes closed and completely immovable. She got the best from herself, everything, to reach him and catch hold of one of his arms, or legs, or just something. She did not know what it was, but she had something in her hands as she managed to turn and swim upwards, towards the now small shape of the ship, seeming very odd from below. It cost her all she had to not let him go for she had only one arm to swim, so she used her legs with more strength, even if there was barely left of it. She felt her body weaken, her lungs screamed for oxygen in a very paining way, but she tried not to care about it. She would make it, she knew she could, but Luffy began to weigh more and more, pulling her down again. Just as she felt like never reaching the water surface again, she saw two familiar-looking figures coming and reaching down for her. One of them took Luffy's body out of her weakening hands, and the other grabbed her under the arms and pulled her upwards.

She had never been so glad to see Sanji and even Zoro.

When they broke through the water surface, she desperately gasped for deeply needed air. "It's alright now," she heard Sanji mutter close to her ear. "You made it, it's alright …"

They managed to get her and Luffy on the ship again, together with Robin's blessed power to grow hands out of the ship's side. Nami could not move anymore by now – she knew she would not have to, for Sanji cared for her now. They all did. And they would care for Luffy … Luffy …

As she saw him lying on the ground lifelessly, something snapped inside her. Chopper was already reanimating him in his strongest form, but he looked deeply worried, and watching him was even worse than watching Luffy who just lay there.

Nobody said a thing. The only ones moving were Chopper and Sanji who ran to the cabins to get some towels. As the reindeer raised his voice, Nami flinched. "I don't know if that … Someone … someone has to do mouth-to-mouth …"

Now everyone looked down to the ground. Everyone except for Nami.

"Oh, come on!" she yelled angrily. "He's our captain! He always saves our lives, now we have to save his …" And with that, she quickly stepped to his side, sat down next to him and bent over his pale face. She had never seen him so pale, and it gave her heart a painful twitch. Without thinking it over again, she held his nose and looked at Chopper for a signal she should begin. He pumped four more times, then nodded at her, and she immediately put her lips on his, forcing air into his lungs. She did it twice, like Chopper had showed her some time ago, then the reindeer pumped again. He did it so forcefully that if Luffy had been a normal person, surely all his ribs would have been pulverised by now.

They continued for what seemed an eternity. She refused to stop, to give him up, and so did Chopper. All she could see was his face, and all she could think of was him jumping up and being all okay again. She put all her hope in that thought, all her energy, and she would not stop until it became reality.

_I … won't let you … fuckin'__ … die!_

Even the feeling of his lips against hers did not excite her as she had imagined about one thousand times in the last few months. Those were not his lips, it was the lips of a corpse, cold and lifeless, and she had no strength left to think about that in this moment. It just didn't matter now.

When she heard a strange humming noise, she immediately sat up straight and looked in his face. She had gotten to the point where it didn't matter if he woke up and found her mouth on his, it would not be embarrassing for her, the only thing of importance was getting him back to life.

Yet, the sound distracted her. His eyes were closed still, and she looked at Chopper questioningly. He nodded and shrugged, indicating to her to continue, which she did – until she heard that sound again. It clearly came from him, she could feel his chest vibrating, it sounded like … _snoring_.

With a squeaking noise, she backed off. "Chopper – he's _sleeping_!"

The whole crew's jaws dropped to the floor. "HE'S WHAT?" Sanji cried out, fuming with anger from having to watch his beloved Nami-swan _kissing_ Luffy back into life when he had been alive the whole time.

"Sleeping," Nami said blankly and stared at her captain. "_He's just freakin' sleeping …_"

Then she jumped at her feet, yelling all the time. "You fuckin' idiot, what did you think you were doing, scaring me to hell and back again, just WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING JUMPING IN THE WATER LIKE A FUCKING DUMBASS, YOU IDIOT, YOU …" She almost kicked him in the side with all her anger, but then decided not to do that. She just couldn't, even if she knew he was just sleeping, he seemed so … dead.

Then she lifted her gaze to the rest of the crew. Usopp and Chopper instantly backed off, sweat dropping heavily. She looked at Robin with a death glare, the best she could find in her repertoire. It did not matter that she had been an assassin in her earlier times, Nami was ANGRY now.

"You! Why didn't you do anything! You just stood there and let him jump! You …"

"I'm sorry, Nami-san, but you know how useless I am when it comes to those jumping-into-the-sea things …," she said calmly, but that did not satisfy the fuming navigator.

"YOU COULD HAVE GROWN HANDS TO PREVENT HIM FROM JUMPING!" Nami yelled at her and clenched her fists.

"Nami-neechan, she surely didn't think he'd jump …" Franky began but quickly stopped when he saw her face.

"And you!" she yelled at Zoro who, completely surprised by her sudden change of person to yell at, took his arms up in defeat. "WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE PURPOSE OF A NIGHT WATCH?"

Zoro opened his mouth but closed it again. Nami seized him by the collar. "NEXT TIME YOU SLEEP DURING YOUR NIGHT WATCH, I'LL KICK YOU DOWNSTAIRS BY MYSELF!" she cried out and let him go again, panting heavily from all the yelling and threatening.

"Nobody could have foreseen that, witch!" Zoro grumbled, completely not willing to leave that standing, but Nami's death glare shut him up again.

"Awww, this damned ship makes me freakin' crazy!" she muttered, then turned around and stomped over to her room, not without having looked at her sleeping captain again.

"What the …" Zoro growled angrily, but a light hand on his shoulders made him stop. As he looked up he saw Robin smiling at him.

"She is in a state of shock at the moment. Please give her time. She didn't mean it, I'm sure."

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When he awoke, Luffy yawned with his mouth as big as possible. And since he consists of rubber, this is quite something.

He blinked a few times. Obviously he was in the infirmary, and Chopper sat at his desk, working over some potions with large books next to him. Usopp sat at a chair next to him, sleeping. And of course, Luffy's first thought was …

"I'M HUNGRY!" he yelled immediately.

"Guwaaaaa!" Chopper and Usopp cried out and fell to the floor, startled by their captain's outcry. "Luffy! You scared me!" they yelled in unison, and then: "LUFFY! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"Sorry guys! But I'm so HUNGRYYYY!" he yelled once again, jumping out of the bed. "By the way, what am I doing in here?" he asked as he remembered where he was.

"We saved you out of the sea a few hours ago," Chopper explained to him, a worried expression on his cute reindeer face. "Or rather, Nami did."

"Huh? Nami saved me out of the water?" He scratched his head. "What did I do in there?"

"We wanted to ask you the same," a voice came from at the door. Franky stood there, arms akimbo, and grinned at his captain. "Really, mugiwara, you had us worried. It seemed like you wouldn't wake up again, but Chopper and Nami-neechan reanimated you …"

"Huh? I was dead?" Luffy asked in confusion.

Franky nodded. "Yeah, almost. But now you're awake, and that's SUUPAAA!" And with that he posed right in front of the door. Luffy grinned at him and went out of the room, right to the dining room, ignoring Chopper's concerned advices.

"SANJI! I'M HUNGRY!" he yelled when entering and saw a smiling Robin and Brook (he has to be smiling, he's a skeleton after all) sitting at the table, reading and drinking tea.

"Yohohohohoho! Our captain's awake! I almost thought you were dead, then you could tell skull jokes like me, yohohohohoho …"

"Captain-san. I'm glad you're well."

Luffy grinned his trademark-grin at them. "Of course I'm not dead! What made you believe that?"

"Perhaps the fact that you fucking _were_, idiot?" someone growled from at the door.

Luffy turned around, completely irritated, and saw Nami standing there with her arms crossed and a death glare on her face. "Nami, hey!" he greeted her, his grin slowly fading away at her expression.

"Hey. Hey! You almost died you stupid idiot dumbass!" she yelled out, then turned on the spot and left. Luffy remained silent, wondering if she wasn't glad he was alive after all, like the others. He heard the door of her room slam shut with a loud bang and turned around to look at Robin and Brook.

Sanji peered out of the kitchen. "Oi, idiot. You can have breakfast now …" he said and was surprised when the boy didn't jump into the kitchen straight away to devour all his supplies at once.

Robin noticed her captain's expression. "Captain-san, I think she is still shocked. We all thought you were dead, and she was the one who jumped after you and saved you. She was really worried. Would you tell me why you jumped?" she asked calmly.

"I dunno … something with a dream, I think …" he muttered and stared at the open door.

"Go apologise, shithead! My poor Nami-swan was beside herself with worry! She didn't even eat something!"

Luffy looked at the cook now standing threateningly in front of him. "She didn't eat?" he asked quietly.

"No, shithead, and if you don't go and apologise right now I'll throw you over the railing once more …"

"Okay," Luffy just said and walked out of the door, leaving two of them in confusion and one thoughtfully. He went over to Nami's room, knocking silently at her door.

"WHAT?" he heard her yell and swallowed hard. He didn't know what he had done wrong, but he just felt like he had to tell her he was sorry for worrying her.

He opened the door and entered the small room, and as she saw him, her face darkened and she looked away. But before she could say anything, he cleared his throat, feeling uneasy at once. "Umm, Nami, I … I'm really sorry. I don't know why I jumped into the sea, perhaps a bad dream, but thank you for saving me and … sorry."

During his talking she kept her face turned away from him so that he couldn't see her expression. As she looked up at him now, he was startled to see tears running down her cheeks. "Nami, I …"

"Shut up," she said quietly but clearly, and he obeyed. "Really, Luffy … I thought … you were so damn _pale_, and you didn't move, it looked like … _you looked like a corpse_!" she blurted out and more tears came streaming down her face. "And now you say it was because of a _bad dream_? Are you _serious_?"

He didn't know what to say at that. He was shocked deep inside, so shocked to see her crying like that, and knowing he was the cause of it all made it even worse. It hurt …

"If you died, I would've died right with you," she said without looking at him.

He winced with his eyes wide open. "Nami, why do you say that?"

She turned her head a bit, still not looking at him, laughing harshly. "You're such an idiot," she whispered, barely audible. He made two steps towards her, and that was when she stood up and looked at him out of red-rimmed eyes that told him this was not the first time she had cried this day.

"Luffy, you're such an idiot," she repeated and came closer to him. He still didn't know what to say, what could he say to make her happy again? But what she said next caught him completely off-guard.

"I love you, Luffy."

He stared at her.

"I love you, and that's why I worried so much. Now that you know that, please leave me alone. I have to cope with that myself." She turned around and sat down at her desk again, with her head lowered and her hair covering her face.

"Nami, you can't just say something like that and then tell me to go …" Luffy said quietly.

"So what do you intend to do now? Nothing you can say or do would make it easier for me! You don't even know what love is!" she yelled frantically and he saw her clenching her fists at her sides.

And the worst thing was that he had to admit: no, he didn't know. Without saying a word, he turned around and left her room. He had to think about what she had said, and his favourite place was well-suited for that. Silently, he made his way towards Sunny's head, then sat down on the sun-warm wood and crossed his legs.

He had made her sad, and that was the only thing he could think of. She was crying right now, because of him, because he had jumped over the railing in his sleep. As he thought about it, he remembered fragments of his dream – some weird guy taking Nami away and throwing her into the sea while her hands and feet were bound together so she couldn't move, she would drown if he didn't save her … He remembered himself screaming when he saw her falling down towards the sea with her eyes widened in horror … then he had jumped after her. Such a strange dream. He had worried her because of the crappiest dream he'd ever had, and then forced her to admit something she didn't really want to … something strange …

Yes, she was right. He didn't even know what love was, it was an ominous word, a strange concept to him. He knew the word, and he knew that he really loved his nakama and family, but he also knew that Nami's meaning of the word was another. And he really had to find out, because this was the only way to make her happy again.

Once decided, he stood up and jumped down on the lower deck where Chopper, Usopp and Brook sat on the railing, fishing. He went towards them, and when they saw him coming, they waved at him and asked if he wanted to join them. But, just today, he didn't. Instead, he said something very surprising – and very weird, considering that this was Luffy, their ever so funny captain with his face-splitting grin that was even more contagious than a virus.

"Chopper, when do you know that you love someone?"

The three of them stared in astonishment. Then Chopper mused about this strange question and finally came up with: "Well, your heartbeats increase, and some specific hormones get distributed in your body …"

Luffy nodded. He did not understand one thing the little doctor was saying, and when the reindeer finished, he thanked him and asked Usopp the same question. The sharpshooter propped his chin on his fist in his perfect thinking position. He remained silent for a few moments.

"Well …," he said slowly. "You love someone when you want to tell her tales every time to entertain her and make her laugh."

Luffy nodded thoughtfully.

"Yoho, master Usopp, I always say you love someone when you want to return to him to see him again …" Brook interjected and then a heated discussion broke out between them.

Luffy said nothing. He listened quietly, then went away without them noticing. He found Franky and Robin in the aquarium, obviously absorbed in a conversation. "Yo, Franky. Robin," he said and the cyborg turned around, lifting his sunglasses as he stared at the boy.

"Yo, mugiwara, jeez you look bad …" he greeted him. Robin just smiled at him.

Luffy didn't react to Franky's statement. "Robin, when do you know you love someone?" he got to the point directly.

Robin didn't seem to be surprised in any way as she just smiled on and said: "I think you know that you love someone when you want to be near him all the time."

For some reason not obvious to Luffy, Franky blushed. He looked at him in confusion. "Franky, what's up with your face?" he asked, but the cyborg turned away quickly.

"Nothing, I'm not blushing …"

Luffy shrugged. "Doesn't matter," he muttered. "Franky, could you tell me when you know you love someone?"

"Umm … you know you love someone when … when you want to build her little robots to make it easier for her …"

Luffy nodded. "Thanks."

Then he left, not noticing Franky handing a little machine over to Robin, "You put your book in here and then you press that little button …"

Sanji was cooking when Luffy came into the kitchen. "You're entering shallow water here, shithead, you know that …" Sanji began but was cut short when Luffy didn't wait for him to complete threatening him and just asked him the same he had asked the rest of the crew.

Sanji was stunned by his question and looked at him at first, jaw on the floor. Then he cleared his throat and began to explain: "I know that I love my Nami-swan and Robin-chwan because I always want to cook for them, I don't want them to go hungry even a little bit, and they should be completely pleased …"

Luffy thanked the cook who now had hearts replacing his eyes, declaring his love to his lovely ladies standing in front of him invisibly.

Then he climbed the mast to get to the crow's nest and ask the last one. Zoro was training but stopped it when Luffy's question caught him by surprise, almost dropping his weights. He thought for some minutes, but Luffy didn't hop around like he would usually do when someone strained his (very short) patience.

"Love is when you try to do everything to keep a promise you once gave that person," the swordsman finally said, then went on in his training. Luffy nodded and left the crow's nest again.

"Nami!" he called her when he stood at her door again.

"I said, leave!" she called from inside. Her voice sounded strange, and he decided to ignore her order and went into her room, causing her to lift her head and narrowing her eyes at him. She looked like she hadn't changed her position since he had left her, and _she was still crying_.

Luffy felt strange when he saw that. He wanted to embrace her now, but knew that she would push him away if he tried.

"Go away!" she hissed and clenched her fists … but he wouldn't flinch nor go back, not now.

"No, I won't. Just listen."

Her eyes widened in surprise. She had never heard him speak so firmly, so determined …

"Nami. You're right, I don't know what love is," he said and she flinched at what she heard him say. "I asked everyone on the ship, and they all told me something different. Love seems to be a confusing thing …" he continued, and Nami couldn't help smiling sadly at his words.

"Chopper told me something about hornets I don't understand. Usopp said love means telling tales to make the person laugh, Brook said it's returning to see the person again, Robin said it's wanting to be near the person all the time, Franky said … ummm … he wants to build some more robots …" He pondered for a few seconds to get it all together again. "Sanji said he wants to cook you something, and Zoro said love is keeping a promise." He took a deep breath and looked at his navigator who just stared at him, unsure about what to do or to say.

He relieved her of that question by going on. "Well, I'm not good at telling tales, but I want to make you laugh, more than anything else. I don't want to return to you since we're on the same ship and we'll never get separated, but if we did, then I would want to return to you to see you again. I don't want to be near you all the time because most of the time you're yelling at me or hitting me. But when you're not doing that, I really want to be." He took another breath to continue, becoming more determined with every word he said. Nami looked like she was in shock and he was a bit worried about that, but he had to tell her now.

"Nami, I can't build you robots and I can't cook to make you happy, but if I could, I would do that all day." He stepped closer to her, looking her straight in the eyes. "And if I made you a promise, I'd do everything to keep it. And as all that means that I love you …" he knelt down next to her sitting on her chair and looking wide-eyed at him, taking her hands into his, "well, then … I think I love you."

She said nothing. She just stared at him, trying to realise what he'd been saying. "Luffy …" she whispered.

"Nami, I don't want to see you cry. I want to make you laugh, to please you, to make your life easier, to – hmpf!"

He was unable to speak because she shut him up in the most wonderful way on Earth: she kissed him.

"My God, Luffy, you … that was the cutest thing I've ever heard, ever …" she whispered as she let him go and looked him in the eyes, just a few inches away from his face. He silently brought up one hand to caress her cheek and wipe away her tears still streaming down her face.

"So why won't you stop crying?" he asked, and his sad tone really caused her to smile.

"Oh Luffy, these are tears of joy, I just can't believe it, please don't be sad …"

"Then laugh," he said irritated, and because of all his confusion and misunderstanding, she couldn't help but doing as he wanted.

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**Author's note:** Hope you enjoyed! Please review if you did …


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